November Historical Events

November 1, 1848 - The first medical school for women opened in Boston. In 1874, the school merged with the Boston University School of Medicine, becoming one of the first co-ed medical schools.

November 2, 1947 - The first and only flight of Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" flying boat occurred in Long Beach Harbor, California. It flew about a mile at an altitude of 70 feet. Costing $25 million, the 200-ton plywood eight-engine Hercules was the world's largest airplane, designed, built and flown by Hughes. It later became a tourist attraction alongside the Queen Mary ship at Long Beach and has since been moved to Oregon.

November 4, 1862 - Richard Gatling patented his first rapid-fire machine-gun which used revolving barrels rotating around a central mechanism to load, fire, and extract the cartridges.

November 5, 1911 - Aviator C.P. Snow completed the first transcontinental flight across America, landing at Pasadena, California. He had taken off from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17th and flew a distance of 3,417 miles.

November 7, 1967 - Carl Stokes became the first African American mayor in the U.S., elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.

November 7, 1989 - L. Douglas Wilder became the first African American governor in U.S. history, elected governor of Virginia.

November 9, 1872 - The Great Boston Fire started in a dry-goods warehouse then spread rapidly in windy weather, destroying nearly 800 buildings. 

November 9, 1965 - At 5:16 p.m., the Great Blackout of the Northeast began as a tripped circuit breaker at a power plant on the Niagara River caused a chain reaction sending power surges knocking out interconnected power companies down the East Coast. 

November 10, 1775 - The U.S. Marine Corps was established as part of the U.S. Navy. It became a separate unit on July 11, 1789.

November 13, 1927 - The Holland Tunnel was opened to traffic. The tunnel runs under the Hudson River between New York City and Jersey City and was the first underwater tunnel built in the U.S. 

November 13, 1956 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.

November 15, 1777 - The Articles of Confederation were adopted by Continental Congress.

November 17, 1800 - The U.S. Congress met for the first time in the new capital at Washington, D.C. President John Adams then became the first occupant of the Executive Mansion, later renamed the White House.

November 18, 1883 - A Connecticut school teacher, Charles F. Dowd, proposed a uniform time zone plan for the U.S. consisting of four zones.

November 19, 1868 - New Jersey suffragists attempted to vote in the presidential election to test the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which states, "no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." 

November 20, 1789 - New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

November 22, 1963 - At 12:30 p.m., on Elm Street in downtown Dallas, President John F. Kennedy's motorcade slowly approached a triple underpass. Shots rang out. The President was struck in the back, then in the head. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where fifteen doctors tried to save him. At 1 p.m., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was pronounced dead. 

November 24, 1874 - Joseph Glidden patented his invention of barbed wire.

November 26, 1789 - The first American holiday occurred, proclaimed by President George Washington to be Thanksgiving Day, a day of prayer and public thanksgiving in gratitude for the successful establishment of the new American republic.

November 26, 1832 - The first horse-drawn streetcar carried passengers in New York City.

November 28, 1934 - FBI agents killed bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson near Barrington, Illinois.

November 29, 1929 - American explorer Richard Byrd and Bernt Balchen completed the first airplane flight to the South Pole.

November 30, 1782 - A provisional peace treaty was signed between Great Britain and the United States heralding the end of America's War of Independence.